zgolfz85 said:

---

bobinator said:

---

I don't know why people think he can't recruit. That narrative has gotten WAY out of control. I think it must be a combination of football mentality when people just log onto a recruiting service and look at the high school rankings and some sort of lack of understanding what our basketball recruiting ability looks like compared to other sports.

Especially when it comes from the same people who also don't think he can coach worth anything. If he can't recruit at all, then getting a four seed from this group of players should be seen as some kind of coaching miracle right?

He's not some kind of recruiting savant or anything, and he probably focuses too much on personality rather than actual basketball skills, but our overall ability to recruit the guys he wants to recruit has been fine.

---

Agreed, he can definitely recruit…just not at the level we need to get to a final 4 likely.

---

You people are so weird, like you never played basketball. He averages a recruiting class of #35 ranking nationally. His transfer players have largely been impotent minus Payne. Bottom and middle of the SEC turned out overrated in the postseason. He played Hefner as a starter for crying out loud, who couldn't start for many D2 schools. There is no way you people played basketball. He always says "off the court is more important than on the court." His ceiling is round 3, yet he never even makes it that far.

Ag1188 said:

---

zgolfz85 said:

---

bobinator said:

---

I don't know why people think he can't recruit. That narrative has gotten WAY out of control. I think it must be a combination of football mentality when people just log onto a recruiting service and look at the high school rankings and some sort of lack of understanding what our basketball recruiting ability looks like compared to other sports.

Especially when it comes from the same people who also don't think he can coach worth anything. If he can't recruit at all, then getting a four seed from this group of players should be seen as some kind of coaching miracle right?

He's not some kind of recruiting savant or anything, and he probably focuses too much on personality rather than actual basketball skills, but our overall ability to recruit the guys he wants to recruit has been fine.

---

Agreed, he can definitely recruit…just not at the level we need to get to a final 4 likely.

---

You people are so weird, like you never played basketball. He averages a recruiting class of #35 ranking nationally. His transfer players have largely been impotent minus Payne. Bottom and middle of the SEC turned out overrated in the postseason. He played Hefner as a starter for crying out loud, who couldn't start for many D2 schools. There is no way you people played basketball. He always says "off the court is more important than on the court." His ceiling is round 3, yet he never even makes it that far.

---

your mom's weird....and I did play basketball

as I've said...he CAN recruit, but when you're wiping out 75% of the recruitable population by having nearly impossible character and system standards, it puts your recruiting ceiling lower than all of your peers.

tomato3938 said:

---

Why doesn't The AD tell Buzz to either leave or stay ASAP

---

Be interesting what you could ask the coach to do in this situation or force him to do or withhold an nil money or other actions. I don't know where you would be in violation of the contract so it's sort of just open for discussion

We can't do anything that doesn't jeopardize the success of our own program.

If he can't find another job then you just get to work and pretend it never happened. The good news is that's a lot easier in the free movement era. Players don't have to worry about being stuck at a school if the coach leaves.

I also think Buzz is absolutely sincere about loyalty to his players, probably even to a fault. So it's not like if they commit here and then he goes somewhere else that they need to be worried about getting left behind.

bobinator said:

---

We can't do anything that doesn't jeopardize the success of our own program.

If he can't find another job then you just get to work and pretend it never happened. The good news is that's a lot easier in the free movement era. Players don't have to worry about being stuck at a school if the coach leaves.

I also think Buzz is absolutely sincere about loyalty to his players, probably even to a fault. So it's not like if they commit here and then he goes somewhere else that they need to be worried about getting left behind.

---

i posted this on other thread, but maybe Trev comes out and said they had sit down, everyone put things aside and we're ready to move forward. Trev didn't hire him so he might be able to set emotions aside.

NOW getting boosters on board may be another thing.

zgolfz85 said:

---

Agreed, he can definitely recruit…just not at the level we need to get to a final 4 likely. A big part of that is limiting the population of recruitable guys due to character, system etc. I actually think the fact he can get guys to sign on to his very quirky system speaks to how good a recruiter he is. It would be amazing if he didn't wipe out 75% of the recruitable field before going to work though.

---

Yeah, who needs character. Let's go after guys like Bryce Hopkins!

Trev can say a lot of things, but Buzz played his hand and his commitment to Texas A&M and the 3 years left on his contract did not seem to be the top of his list. Our administration and key donors are not fools. There is nothing to repair that no matter what is said externally, the damage is real.

If Buzz doesn't land a job, he needs to enter into a negotiated buyout soon at A&M and try to find another job next season. No one will trust him enough to invest in him here. If he stays and bombs, he will have less suitors after next season and his career prospects will be damaged. That is the reason Buzz would enter into such a negotiation.

Method Man said:

---

czar_iv said:

---

Bucketrunner said:

---

He's burned a lot of goodwill here.

---

By doing what?

---

Putting his name out for jobs since last season.

---

I can't believe there are people on this board that actually believe that the rumors and reports aren't true. Even the MD 247 folks said that Buzz interviewed for the job.

bobinator said:

---

We can't do anything that doesn't jeopardize the success of our own program.

If he can't find another job then you just get to work and pretend it never happened. The good news is that's a lot easier in the free movement era. Players don't have to worry about being stuck at a school if the coach leaves.

I also think Buzz is absolutely sincere about loyalty to his players, probably even to a fault. So it's not like if they commit here and then he goes somewhere else that they need to be worried about getting left behind.

---

It's all about Team Bus 1 with Buzz. Everyone else can F off.

BuzzFan24 said:

---

zgolfz85 said:

---

Agreed, he can definitely recruit…just not at the level we need to get to a final 4 likely. A big part of that is limiting the population of recruitable guys due to character, system etc. I actually think the fact he can get guys to sign on to his very quirky system speaks to how good a recruiter he is. It would be amazing if he didn't wipe out 75% of the recruitable field before going to work though.

---

Yeah, who needs character. Let's go after guys like Bryce Hopkins!

---

I'm not ragging on character guys. Ultimately, most folks are going to prefer that you recruit everyone, rather than a fraction of the recruitable players. No one is saying to recruit dudes who've already had major criminal or drug issues by age 17, but limiting yourself to the choir boy types like Hank Coleman is really going to lower your ceiling....especially in hoops where a ton of these kids grew up in rough inner city environments.

A lot of coaches can take those types and make them into great men. It seems like Buzz only wants good men that can become great men....and that's limiting.

zgolfz85 said:

---

BuzzFan24 said:

---

zgolfz85 said:

---

Agreed, he can definitely recruit…just not at the level we need to get to a final 4 likely. A big part of that is limiting the population of recruitable guys due to character, system etc. I actually think the fact he can get guys to sign on to his very quirky system speaks to how good a recruiter he is. It would be amazing if he didn't wipe out 75% of the recruitable field before going to work though.

---

Yeah, who needs character. Let's go after guys like Bryce Hopkins!

---

I'm not ragging on character guys. Ultimately, most folks are going to prefer that you recruit everyone, rather than a fraction of the recruitable players. No one is saying to recruit dudes who've already had major criminal or drug issues by age 17, but limiting yourself to the choir boy types like Hank Coleman is really going to lower your ceiling....especially in hoops where a ton of these kids grew up in rough inner city environments.

A lot of coaches can take those types and make them into great men. It seems like Buzz only wants good men that can become great men....and that's limiting.

---

A lot of these guys are far from choirboys arriving on campus. I think the tough as nails trait is way more important to Buzz than the next Barrack Obama trait.

Marble and Boots' had legal issues. Do you know Solo's background?

BuzzFan24 said:

---

zgolfz85 said:

---

BuzzFan24 said:

---

zgolfz85 said:

---

Agreed, he can definitely recruit…just not at the level we need to get to a final 4 likely. A big part of that is limiting the population of recruitable guys due to character, system etc. I actually think the fact he can get guys to sign on to his very quirky system speaks to how good a recruiter he is. It would be amazing if he didn't wipe out 75% of the recruitable field before going to work though.

---

Yeah, who needs character. Let's go after guys like Bryce Hopkins!

---

I'm not ragging on character guys. Ultimately, most folks are going to prefer that you recruit everyone, rather than a fraction of the recruitable players. No one is saying to recruit dudes who've already had major criminal or drug issues by age 17, but limiting yourself to the choir boy types like Hank Coleman is really going to lower your ceiling....especially in hoops where a ton of these kids grew up in rough inner city environments.

A lot of coaches can take those types and make them into great men. It seems like Buzz only wants good men that can become great men....and that's limiting.

---

A lot of these guys are far from choirboys arriving on campus. I think the tough as nails trait is way more important to Buzz than the next Barrack Obama trait.

Marble and Boots' had legal issues. Do you know Solo's background?

---

marble had legal issues after he got here. I knew about boots.

Tough as nails is a required trait too....I'm just saying, compared to the vast majority of coaches, our pool of Buzz-type players is much smaller

Gotta be an OKG!

BuzzFan24 said:

---

Gotta be an OKG!

---

I'm halfway convinced you're tied to the buzz camp in some way.

Can you tell him that we can be friends again, but to please make a public statement recommitting himself to TAMU so we can effectively recruit the portal again? This awkward phase is just not ideal for anyone involved.

I'll see what I can do over our next batch of chips 'n queso.

By not winning 7 consecutive national championships, duh

I think the fan base may still be gun shy due to the baseball fiasco last year.

Every single coach we have had a job before coming here, taking an interview isn't a fireable offense.

Performance on the court is, Buzz is a to 15 paid coach, we haven't been getting top 15 results. I really believe this was going to be the year. And I think the fact that we were able to beat Auburn is a testament to that.

I wanted Hef gone for multiple offseasons, but saying he's D2 or D3 just isn't accurate if you watched him play against inferior competition. I didn't think we should have kept him on the roster, but there are a lot of D1 schools and he would have played a ton of minutes for quite a number of them, all just at a much lower level than the SEC.

That does touch on one of my issues with Buzz though. There is a lot to like about being loyal to your players and I'm sure those guys love knowing their coach isn't going to push them out, but we hamstrung ourselves by not upgrading those roster spots year after year. I don't view it as laziness, I think he's just way too loyal in some in a system that does not really reward loyalty at all in its current form. On the flip side, maybe that loyalty to guys like Hef and Carter comes back to him via guys like Wade sticking around when he certainly had lucrative offers elsewhere, I don't know.

I liked Buzz but I think his quirks are now becoming more of a burden as he ages. (in A&M capacity...)

Lot can be forgiven or overlooked if he were super successful but not when results are less than stellar. The natives, ie zoo and admin are frustrated.

I hope he does move on so we can move on too...

There's a couple layers here, starting with him being way too loyal to guys he likes, but that's not a recruiting issue. It's not a recruiting issue that Hefner was on the team for five years. Hell Hefner was a ranked player, at one point he was a top 150 player, and he was recruited by Houston, Oklahoma, Clemson and others.

The second is I'm not sure it's a good idea to take what Buzz says about some of this stuff literally. Do we really think he signed a guy that's never seen video of at all? I find that EXTREMELY hard to believe. The only way I think it's true is if there's someone on the staff who he absolutely implicitly trusts with talent evals, which also seems extremely unlikely. But maybe he does, and if that person says they're good, then Buzz just does the recruiting part of it. MAYBE that's what's happening, but if that's the case then it's not like nobody evaluated Carter.

But I'd argue that recruiting ability ("can I get this player I want") and roster management are separate things. I think he's decent-to-pretty-good at recruiting considering what we're working with. I don't think he's been good at overall roster management.

Topher17 said:

---

I wanted Hef gone for multiple offseasons, but saying he's D2 or D3 just isn't accurate if you watched him play against inferior competition. I didn't think we should have kept him on the roster, but there are a lot of D1 schools and he would have played a ton of minutes for quite a number of them, all just at a much lower level than the SEC.

That does touch on one of my issues with Buzz though. There is a lot to like about being loyal to your players and I'm sure those guys love knowing their coach isn't going to push them out, but we hamstrung ourselves by not upgrading those roster spots year after year. I don't view it as laziness, I think he's just way too loyal in some in a system that does not really reward loyalty at all in its current form. On the flip side, maybe that loyalty to guys like Hef and Carter comes back to him via guys like Wade sticking around when he certainly had lucrative offers elsewhere, I don't know.

---

Hefner definitely is a D1 player, but both he and Carter won't shoot close to 40% from 3. We needed both to consistently hit 3s and open up the floor. Like bob mentioned, this is a roster management issue. But Buzz has to run players off that don't fit his system. I have a good friend who played football at Arkansas in the 90s whose son played basketball at Arkansas. Calipiri ran off his son in record time. The question is do we want someone like Buzz or Calipari? Or maybe something in between?

100% agree you have to be willing to run players off that can't give you what you need. 10 years ago I could see repeatedly doing it becoming an issue in recruiting and what not with players having to sit out, but plenty of coaches still did it back then. In today's game with immediate eligibility, you have to be willing to cut the dead weight from your roster, which is something Buzz has not proven he's willing to do.

I don't think it's even necessarily "cutting the dead weight." If these guys are great program guys or leaders or whatever, then sure, keep them on the team.

The problem is they're playing almost a combined 50 minutes a game (Hefner 15, Obaseki 15, Carter 17.) That's 25% of the minutes! This means they're either better than all of the players not playing (concerning!) or you're playing them out of some kind of loyalty to them (also bad!).

And you could take any one of these guys and defend their minutes. I mean we have to play someone there, and any one of them, especially Manny, had times they were good and were helpful to have out there. But none of them were dependable enough.

If you're an Aggie basketball NIL sponsor, you have 3 options:

1. Continue support at current levels, understanding the coach will likely take the first decent offer and take the good players with him. Maybe you get another good year (or two) before he bolts

2. Increase support in hopes that more resources changes Buzz's mind. You probably have to push for an extension to feel confident doing this. So, you're spending on a guy that wants out and isn't well liked.

3. Decrease support and save for the next hire that looks inevitable.

Disagree. I think d2 and d3 basketball is underestimated and how big of liability we covered for hef is underestimated as well.

What was his strength? He plays like a spot up shooter, but he can't shoot. It's crazy

This is assuming NIL is going to keep working the same way.

Hefner was actually a decent shooter when he could get a shot off in rhythm. Our roster didn't really help him with that at all. But people also just think he's a shooter because he's white. He's actually a pretty good athlete, just not in the way we needed or had to use him.

Where Hefner could be good is as a 3/4 on a space and shoot team in a less athletic conference. He's like 6-6, if you had an offense with good shooters who could create space and Hefner could play in a role where he's flashing into the high post or something he's actually a pretty good athlete. And he could defend most 3s and 4s well enough at that level.

But that's not how we're built or how the SEC plays.

He's not a shooter, sorry.

The supreme Court said something about u know when u see it?

Naw..

northeastag said:

---

Couldn't Buzz shut this all down pretty fast if none of it were true and he wanted it to go away. Uncertainty about his future can't be good for recruiting.

---

Yes he could and there's the rub. Why hasn't he? There's a difference between not caring what others think and their being rumor that if its untrue you set the record straight because you have a contract and are in the midst of recruiting for the portal and losing a lot of goodwill with the fan base, alumni and AD. That's why a lot of us think there is something to this.

Ag1188 said:

---

Buzz knows he'll be fired if he stays, so he's trying to get out. He recruits awful (averages #35 ranked classes), he's awful at offense, and he can't win in the postseason and has an ultimate ceiling of making the 3rd round with his horrible offense and recruiting.

---

We can't fire him. We'd owe him around $14 mil if we did.

Guess Buzz playing both ends against the middle to see which one flushes out/
If no new jobs he has a 3 yr contract left at TAMU.

I am ok either way. If not happy here then move on. TAMU has a lot to offer and there
will be plenty of candidates. Maybe not big names, but I am ok with a young up and comer
who has won every where they have been. X's and O's are the same at every level.
Recruiting, the portal and keeping your guys motivated, along with embrassing the fans is what is needed!

The meteoric rise of Nate Oats is a good example of what may be possible in a winning up and comer!